Journal box



J. DRESNER June 8, 1943.

JOURNAL BOX Filed Oct. 16, 1941 m m w m DRESNER A r aR/vzr 'ful improvements in journal boxes and,

Patented June 8, 1943 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 1 2,321,070 a JOURNAL BOX A Joseph Dresner, St. Louis, Mo. Application October 16,194l, SerialNo.415,202 I a h 2 Claims. (crabs-s9 r This invention relates to certain new and usemore particularly, to a bearing protector;

As is well known to substantially all-railway hostlers and roundhouse mechanics, the journal box on railway car wheels is, at the present time,

- packed with absorbent cotton waste saturated with lubricant. The bearing surfaces of the journals proper, however, are formed of lowmelting anti-friction alloys, such as babbitt and the like, and are, therefore, easily scored and damaged when subjected in localized areas to extensive friction and heat. For this reason, much difficulty has resulted from the tendency of the cotton waste to disintegrate, so that strands and isolated portions thereof arecaught up by rotation of the axle and forcibly drawn between the bearing surface of the axle and the bearing surface of the journal. Frequently such strands of waste will become lodged between the bearing surfaces'and, as a result of attendant friction, produce sufficient heat to score and damage the smooth bearing surface of the anti-friction alloy.

My invention hence has for its primary objects the provision of simple, efficient, and economical means for preventing cotton waste and other similar material from being drawn between the bearing surfaces of a car wheel axle and the journal.

It i a further object of my invention to provide means of the type stated which is simple and inexpensive, which may be readily and conveniently installed, which will not interfere with the normal operation of the bearing, which is rugged and durable, and which is otherwise highly convenient and satisfactory in the performance of its stated objects.

And with the above and other objects in view, my invention resides in the novel features of form, construction, arrangement, and combination of parts presently described and pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawing,

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a journal bearlug-member and protector constructed in accordance with and embodying my present invention;

Figure 2 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view of a journal box constructed in accordance with and embodying my present invention;

Figure 3 is a transverse sectional view of the journal box taken approximately along the line 3-3, Figure 2; and

Figure 4 is an inverted sectional view of the journal box taken approximately along the line 44,Figure 3. I v r Referring now inmoredetail and by reference characters to the; drawing, which illustrates a preferred, embodiment of my invention, A designates a journal box of substantially conventional design having the usual plate or pad Whichis machined on its under face with aztransverselys extending reces 2 for accommodating a-complementarily shaped bronze bearing member 3.; On; its underface, the member 3 isprovided with a lengthwise extending downwardly openingarcuate channelorrecess t conventionally lined with,- a poured or otherwise suitably formed-antbfriction bearing 5 for receiving a conyentionaloar axle spindle or journal 6. It will,'of course, be

understood in this connection that the journal? box A is of sufficient size to extend substantially below the car axle spindleb-toprovide'a chain-,1 her 0 adapted for receiving a substantial qua tity of lubricant'saturatedpottonwastew.;

On each of its side faces adjacent one terial and rigidly mortised at its lower end in the V outer vertical face of a substantially horizontal protector bar i2 formed preferably, though not necessarily, of molded fiber and. extending lengthwise along the margin of the member 3 in downwardly spaced relation to the under face thereof. At its other end, the bar I2 is preferably enlarged in width in the provision of an offset end I3 for extending beneath the lug I and apertured for looselyaccommodating a vertical stud l4 having an enlarged head l5 and being threaded at its upper end into the under face of the lug 1. Disposed encirclingly about the stud M in abutting engagement at its opposite ends against the under face of the lug 'l and the upper face of the bar I2, is a compression spring It for normally urging the bar i2 downwardly against the head l5 of the stud I4.

On its inwardly presented vertical face, the

protector bar I2 is preferably provided with a of the hanger II and the length of the stud "l4, taken together with the thickness and horizontal Width of the protector bars H, are such that the lower inwardly presented edges or corners of the serrations I! will be positioned in close but non-touching proximity to the surface of the axle spindle B, as best seen in Figure 2. It will, of course, be obvious that railroad cars move both in the forward and reverse directions and that the axle spindles likewise rotate in either direction, so that it is necessary to provide two identical and opposite protector bar I2 mounted on either side of the car spindle, as shown.

When in use, the protector bars l2 will effectively and efficiently catch and restrain the particles of cotton waste which tend to be drawn up against the surface of the bearing 5. The bearing-surface protectors of my invention are simple and inexpensive and may be readily installed in new joumal-boxes or, with equal facility, installed in used journal-boxes which are being repaired in the roundhouse. In either case, it has been found that the protectors are rugged and durable and materially prolong the useful life of the bearing-surfaces with which they are associated.

It should be understood that changes and modifications in the form, construction, arrangement, and combination of the several parts of the journal box may be made and substituted for those herein shown and described without departing from the nature and principle of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is,

1. In combination, in a journal-box, a bearingmember for disposition upon a wheel-axle disposed within-the box, the box having a chamber below such axle for receiving cotton waste and lubricant and said member being on a side face formed with an outwardly projecting boss at one end and cut-away in the provision of a clearancespace at its opposite end, a, depending hangerarm loosely fiatwise attached at an end to said member at said clearance-space, a longitudinal bar attached at one end to said arm and provided at its opposite end with an offset, and means including a stud engaging said bar at said offset and said member at said boss and a spring coiled on the stud intermediate the bar and said member for securing the bar at said opposite end yieldingly to the bearing-member in approximate parallel relation to the wheel-axle, the bar bein provided on its inner face with a longitudinal series of serrations for catching and restraining from said member any cotton Waste which may be drawn upwardly in the box on and by rotation of the wheel-axle.

2. In combination, in a journal-box, a bearingmember for disposition upon a wheel-axle disposed within the box, the box having a chamber below such axle for receiving cotton waste and lubricant and said member being on each of its opposite side faces formed with an outwardly projecting boss at one end and cut-away in the provision of a clearance-space at its opposite end, depending hanger-arms each loosely fiatwise attached at an end to said member at a respective clearance-space, longitudinal bars each attached at one end to one of said arms and provided at its opposite end with an offset, and means for 

